If you’re thinking about starting a diet, I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news: There are hundreds, even thousands, of diet plans to choose from. The bad news: Most of them are scams.
How can you tell if a diet is the real deal or a scam? If the diet makes one of these following claims, you can be sure it’s too good to be true.
1. Eat whatever you want!—We’ve all seen those commercials for weight loss pills that claim you can eat whatever you want—burgers, pizza, fries, ice cream, etc.—and still lose weight by popping these pills. Supposedly, these pills work to block fat and carbs from absorbing into your body. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no evidence to support these claims, and the only thing you can be sure you’ll get when you take these weight loss pills is a severe stomach cramp.
2. Get the body you want without exercise!—This diet is designed to appeal to the couch potato. Don’t feel like getting up and being active? Don’t worry! This diet will help you get the body of a professional athlete without lifting a finger. Actually, it won’t. And if you believe it will, I have a bridge I want to sell you.
3. Drink this to lose weight!—Every few years, you’ll see an herbal tea diet pop up. The makers of the drink will claim that drinking the tea will help you quickly lose your gut. The truth is these teas can help you drop a few pounds quickly. That’s because they’re diuretics. Unfortunately, as soon as you drink a glass of water, that weight will come right back. That said, there’s nothing wrong with replacing sodas and sugary drinks with a good herbal tea, but don’t expect it to be a miracle diet drink.
4. Wear this diet patch to burn fat away!—People wear the patch to stop smoking so a diet patch must work, right? Wrong. Slapping a patch on your arm is not going to help you magically drop 20 pounds. First, there are no studies that show the chemicals in a diet patch can effectively penetrate the skin. Secondly, diet patches contain the same things you find in ineffective diet pills. Lastly, diet patches have never been shown to help someone lose weight. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Put these in your shoes and lose weight!—Another long running diet scam is weight loss orthotics. Supposedly, you simply slip the orthotics into your shoes, and as you walk around normally throughout your day, these help you to lose weight. In fact, one major company just came out with a shoe based on this premise. Again, there are no shortcuts to losing weight. Wearing a special shoe isn’t going to yield the results you could get by changing your diet and exercising regularly.
Tips for avoiding diet scams:
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• There is no substitute for eating right and exercising regularly
• Free trials are almost always scams